In the Midwest.

Small Towns Draw Good Reviews

JASPER, INDIANA — Rev. Patrick Foster enjoys being pastor of a church where most folks know each other. It's one of the benefits of living in a small town.

Smaller towns are reversing the loss of people to urban areas as Americans seek lower crime and a better quality of life.

And Jasper, Foster's adopted hometown of 10,000 in the southwestern corner of the state, is one of the five best small towns in Indiana, The Indianapolis Star and News said in an article published Sunday. The others are Madison, Berne, Rensselaer and Crawfordsville, none of which has a population larger than 15,000.

"I hate to use this term, family values, but there are basic human values such as caring for other people and civic pride that are a little more apparent in a smaller city than a bigger city," said Foster, who has been a priest in southern Indiana for 40 years and pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church since 1991.

The newspaper compiled its list of Indiana's best small towns after visits by a reporter and photographer, interviews with staff of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, academics, and authors such as Greencastle-based Norman Crampton, who has written a book on the best small towns in America. The newspaper also used measures such as unemployment, crime and high school graduation rates.